1 in 3 rural Kansas hospitals at risk of closing in study

The for-profit research group iVantage Health Analytics, based in Maine, released the study, which it said it paid for. It does not identify hospitals by name to avoid worsening those hospitals’ financial problems.

In Kansas, the report found that 31 of the state’s 107 rural hospitals have at least some characteristics of hospitals that have closed. That’s up from 17 at-risk hospitals reported in the 2015 report.

“I’m extremely concerned but not surprised,” said Brock Slabach, a senior vice president at the National Rural Health Association, which is based in Leawood.

Nationally, 210 hospitals are at a high risk of closing and 463 are at a lower risk of closing, according to the iVantage study.